Jasper is resting quietly on the couch. I picked him up last evening and he will be boarding with me through the weekend. Joan is visiting friends in Sitka for the 4th of July holiday.
It's a drop-dead gorgeous morning and the forecast for the next week is quite encouraging. Lots of hiking and golfing are also in the forecast. YIPPEE! And of course parade watching tomorrow.
In fact, we will kick-off the fun in about two hours when I go pick-up Dougie to meet Eric and his hounds for a hike up the Montana Creek trail.
On a much less favorable note, this morning's Anchorage Daily News is carrying a story about the sacking of the Director of Public Health and resignation of my old department's Chief Medical Officer. http://www.adn.com/palin/story/852044.html
Apparently the director, Beverly Wooley, was given the heave-ho by Governor Palin for her failure to show sufficient enthusiasm for a parental consent for abortion bill sponsored by Fairbanks House Republican John Coghill.
I see the story has already been picked-up by The Oregonian and I suspect it will likely get a fair amount of national play.
Also, Alaska's Lt. Governor yesterday certified a petition to put a parental consent measure on next year's election ballot. The measure is being sponsored by former Lt. Governor Loren Leman and the Alaska Family Council among others. The Alaska Family Council is described by the Anchorage Daily News as a "Christian pro-family anti-abortion group" and is the local affiliate of the national Focus on the Family organization headed by Dr. James Dobson.
Governor Palin and Commissioner of Health and Social Services, Bill Hogan, declined to comment on the dismissal of the public health director citing the confidentiality of personnel matters and on the advice of the Department of Law.
Sigh...
As the legislative liaison for the Department of Health and Social Services for many years I am the veteran of many legislative battles over the abortion issue. And since I worked for both "pro-life" and "pro-choice" Administrations, I have had the pleasure of articulating various Governors' positions on both sides of all facets of the issue - including parental consent, late-term abortions, and public funding for abortions. It was never fun. But I always tried (more or less successfully, I believe) to shield the public health professionals from having to compromise their personal or professional integrity on these matters. Better to have a flak like me take the political heat...than to run the risk of compromising the integrity of the public health system which we ALL depend upon to protect us from the myriad of public health threats from influenza to HIV.
The public health system can function effectively ONLY when it is regarded as strictly science-based and non-political.
While tension between the Governor's Office and the Division of Public Health is nothing new, this is, to my knowledge, the first time a director has ever been sacked in mid-term for failure to toe the party line on the abortion issue... I don't like it one bit.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Wasilla Hillbillies Revisited
Palin is unlike any other national figure in modern American life... The clouds of tabloid conflict and controversy that swirl around her and her extended clan—the surprise pregnancies, the two-bit blood feuds, the tawdry in-laws and common-law kin caught selling drugs or poaching game—give her family a singular status in the rogues’ gallery of political relatives... Palin’s life has sometimes played out like an unholy amalgam of Desperate Housewives and Northern Exposure.Vanity Fair
If you have not already done so...check-out the article on my Governor in the latest issue of Vanity Fair: http://www.vanityfair.com/It's most definitely worth a read...
In other news, Juneau eagerly awaits the start of the Fourth of July festivities. My sister is a member of the group that organizes the parade - and as of yesterday I think there were about 80 entrants. Good ol' timey Fourth of July fun. Fireworks, parades, and games of chance and skill at Sandy Beach in Douglas. Beer.
I have been making the rounds of local merchants in search of swag for the Juneau Junior Golf Club. I have a number of possible contributors taking the matter under advisement - but nobody has actually forked-over the cash yet.
Yesterday I played a round at the local course. It was pretty wet and I may have lost a pint of blood to the resident mosquitoes and no-see-ums. I am scratching like a hound dog this morning. Still, I enjoyed whacking the little white ball - and my game seems no worse for wear despite six months of inactivity. Which is to say I still play extremely poorly. I hope to play again today; but the jury is out as it is just too wet this morning. Maybe this afternoon...
Indeed our weather forecast has been of the "free beer tomorrow" variety the past several days. Promises of improvement tomorrow - but tomorrow has yet to arrive.
Went over to Joan's last night for supper. The celebrity chefs were her two boarders, Jeff and Leah. Jeff is the new administrative manager for Perseverance Theater - seems like a nice guy. He roasted a chicken on the grill. Leah made a great salad with a vinaigrette dressing and tasty little fried chevre balls. And for dessert she made cheese cake bits with fresh raspberries. Good company and good food.
Well, just took a call on the phone. It was mom. A half-cord of wood is now waiting in the driveway to be hauled and stacked. So...my FIRST workout of the day is set.
Later gang!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
On Religion
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum
[To such heights of evil are men driven by religion]
-Lucretius, De Rerum Natura
I just finished reading the polemic “God is not Great – How Religion Poisons Everything” by literary critic, journalist, and essayist Christopher Hitchens – and am feeling quite smug and self-satisfied as is typically the case when one finds oneself agreeing with most everything contained in a serious work of non-fiction.
Mr. Hitchens is a witty and compelling writer – although his background as a literary critic makes for some tough sledding for someone who spent all too much of his time in school studying the banalities of twentieth century business and governmental management (not to mention governmental accounting) - as opposed to reading the literary classics. But while many of the literary allusions may have been lost on me; the central thrust of the book was readily understandable: god(s) are a creation of man (not the other way around) and the falsity of religion should be self-evident to any person with even the most casual understanding of the natural world as it is known and explained by modern science and reason.
Mr. Hitchens’ personal experiences as a journalist provide compelling and disturbing first-hand accounts of the barbarity of sectarian violence in the recent past.
And Mr. Hitchens’experiences in these locales are truly not pretty…
If I have a criticism of the book as a whole, it is Mr. Hitchens placing the persistence of religion among our species as almost wholly a function of our willful ignorance and credulity without a serious discussion of how that credulity may, in fact, have biological origins. Today, there is much exciting work going on in the field of evolutionary biology and more and more suggestion that many universal human traits such as an appreciation for music, art, and religion may have a genetic basis. This is not to suggest that there is a “religion” gene per se; but rather that a belief in religion may be associated with other genetic markers relating to group cohesiveness or other social traits that proved highly beneficial to the human species.
Or perhaps not.
But as we gain more knowledge and understanding of the human genome we shall see…and that is but another example of what makes science and reason so much more satisfying to me than the dead hand of religion…
Finally, on a personal note, I must confess that I have NEVER been a believer. I have,on at least a half a dozen occasions dating back to my late teenage years attempted to read the Good Book – to understand just what it was about that tome that so excited so many of my friends, colleagues and acquaintances. I have tried reading it from the beginning of the Old Testament and from the beginning of the New Testament. I tried skipping around. But no matter what I tried it never once impressed me as a literary work much less as the revealed word of an omnipotent law giver - and I quickly gave up on the project every time. In point of fact, I found the book abhorrent in its violence and savagery. I’m afraid I’m just not a Bronze Age or Iron Age kind of guy…
But I have long suspected (as does Mr. Hitchens) that religion is something that is best learned as a child. Like smoking, odds are that if one has not acquired the habit by the age of reason, then it is likely not to be acquired at all.
Not that later-in-life conversions don’t happen. I’m sure death-bed conversions DO occur – for the obvious reason - and I have met a number of folks who “found god” as part of their recovery from various addictions or other personal traumas. And I didn’t start smoking until I was 21.
I am immensely grateful to my parents for protecting me from religious instruction.
[To such heights of evil are men driven by religion]
-Lucretius, De Rerum Natura
I just finished reading the polemic “God is not Great – How Religion Poisons Everything” by literary critic, journalist, and essayist Christopher Hitchens – and am feeling quite smug and self-satisfied as is typically the case when one finds oneself agreeing with most everything contained in a serious work of non-fiction.
Mr. Hitchens is a witty and compelling writer – although his background as a literary critic makes for some tough sledding for someone who spent all too much of his time in school studying the banalities of twentieth century business and governmental management (not to mention governmental accounting) - as opposed to reading the literary classics. But while many of the literary allusions may have been lost on me; the central thrust of the book was readily understandable: god(s) are a creation of man (not the other way around) and the falsity of religion should be self-evident to any person with even the most casual understanding of the natural world as it is known and explained by modern science and reason.
One must state it plainly. Religion comes from the period of human pre-history where nobody – not even the mighty Democritus who concluded that all matter was made from atoms – had the smallest idea what was going on. It comes from the bawling and fearful infancy of our species, and is a babyish attempt to meet our inescapable demand for knowledge (as well as for comfort,reassurance, and other infantile needs). Today the least educated of my children know more about the natural order than any of the founders of religion, and one would like to think – though the connection is not a fully demonstrable one – that this is why they seem so uninterested in sending fellow humans to hell.
All attempts to reconcile faith with science and reason are consigned to failure and ridicule for precisely these reasons. I read, for example, of some ecumenical conference of Christians who desire to show their broad-mindedness and invite some
physicists along. But I am compelled to remember what I know – which is that there would be no such churches in the first place if humanity had not been afraid of the weather, the dark, the plague, the eclipse, and all manner of other things now easily
explicable. And also if humanity had not been compelled, on pain of extremely agonizing consequences, to pay the exorbitant tithes and taxes that raised the imposing edifices of religion.
Mr. Hitchens’ personal experiences as a journalist provide compelling and disturbing first-hand accounts of the barbarity of sectarian violence in the recent past.
A week before the events of September 11,2001, I was on a panel with Dennis Prager, who is one of America’s better-known religious broadcasters. He challenged me in public to answer what he called a ‘straight yes/no question,’ and I happily agreed. Very well, he said. I was to imagine myself in a strange city as the evening was coming on. Toward me I was to imagine that I saw a large group of men approaching. Now – would I feel safer, or less safe, if I was to learn that they were just coming from a prayer meeting? As the reader will see, this is not a question to which a yes/no answer can be given. But I was able to answer it as if it were not hypothetical. “Just to stay within the letter ‘B,’ I have actually had that experience in Belfast, Beirut, Bombay, Belgrade, Bethlehem, and Baghdad. In each case I can say absolutely, and can give my reasons, why I would feel immediately threatened if I thought that the group of men approaching me in the dusk were coming from a religious observance.
And Mr. Hitchens’experiences in these locales are truly not pretty…
If I have a criticism of the book as a whole, it is Mr. Hitchens placing the persistence of religion among our species as almost wholly a function of our willful ignorance and credulity without a serious discussion of how that credulity may, in fact, have biological origins. Today, there is much exciting work going on in the field of evolutionary biology and more and more suggestion that many universal human traits such as an appreciation for music, art, and religion may have a genetic basis. This is not to suggest that there is a “religion” gene per se; but rather that a belief in religion may be associated with other genetic markers relating to group cohesiveness or other social traits that proved highly beneficial to the human species.
Or perhaps not.
But as we gain more knowledge and understanding of the human genome we shall see…and that is but another example of what makes science and reason so much more satisfying to me than the dead hand of religion…
Finally, on a personal note, I must confess that I have NEVER been a believer. I have,on at least a half a dozen occasions dating back to my late teenage years attempted to read the Good Book – to understand just what it was about that tome that so excited so many of my friends, colleagues and acquaintances. I have tried reading it from the beginning of the Old Testament and from the beginning of the New Testament. I tried skipping around. But no matter what I tried it never once impressed me as a literary work much less as the revealed word of an omnipotent law giver - and I quickly gave up on the project every time. In point of fact, I found the book abhorrent in its violence and savagery. I’m afraid I’m just not a Bronze Age or Iron Age kind of guy…
But I have long suspected (as does Mr. Hitchens) that religion is something that is best learned as a child. Like smoking, odds are that if one has not acquired the habit by the age of reason, then it is likely not to be acquired at all.
Not that later-in-life conversions don’t happen. I’m sure death-bed conversions DO occur – for the obvious reason - and I have met a number of folks who “found god” as part of their recovery from various addictions or other personal traumas. And I didn’t start smoking until I was 21.
I am immensely grateful to my parents for protecting me from religious instruction.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Dog Days
My four-legged pal and I have been covering some territory the past couple of days. Day before yesterday we hiked to the end of Perseverance Trail. It was a beautiful day and we had lots of company on the trail.
Jasper is a good walking companion in that we travel at the same speed - 3.7 mph - my customary treadmill speed. Jasper being the "Type A" guy that he is...prefers to take the lead.
Jasper take the point...he motors along pretty good
The bridge near the end of the trail got taken out by a slide
"Hmmm. I'm not so sure about this..."
Jasper is a good walking companion in that we travel at the same speed - 3.7 mph - my customary treadmill speed. Jasper being the "Type A" guy that he is...prefers to take the lead.
Jasper take the point...he motors along pretty good
A beautiful day
New interpretive signs have gone up on the trail
New interpretive signs have gone up on the trail
The bridge near the end of the trail got taken out by a slide
"Hmmm. I'm not so sure about this..."
But in the end he was a trooper!
In other news death (political and otherwise) has dominated the national media this week. First, Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina booked a room through Orbitz - a deluxe suite in the fiery pit of hell for all eternity - if I understand his religious beliefs correctly. This, of course, follows closely on the heels of a similar disclosure by another right-wing Republican, Senator John Ensign of Nevada. Both were possible GOP candidates for the Presidency in 2012. Adios, boys!
Generally speaking I do not believe the sexual peccadilloes of public figures are particularly newsworthy - and they are certainly nothing peculiar to right-wing Republicans. But when one sets oneself up as an arbiter of public morality - and is perfectly willing to use the police power of the State to enforce that morality - one must expect some backlash when one is unable to keep one's penis in one's pants.
Then the news of the departure of Ms. Farah Fawcett - which dominated the TV all yesterday morning. Sadly for Ms. Fawcett, her allotted post-mortem air time as a 1970's era icon was cut-short by the death of 1980's King of Pop, Mr. Michael Jackson, whose media shelf-life is likely to last for several days and quite possibly weeks and months (depending on the coroner's findings). Even NPR has gotten into the act with blubbering fans calling-in to a special tribute this morning describing how Mr. Jackson had influenced their lives. A bit much it seems to me - I do have to confess that I found his visage the past few years to be somewhere south of bizarre and repulsive - bordering on scary.
Neither of the dearly departed was dear to me. Although Ms. Fawcett was certainly easy on the eyes in her early years and there is no doubt Mr. Jackson does leave a very sizable musical legacy. I am just notoriously lazy about and disinterested in this type of pop-culture stuff...as any of my friends will certify. To each his own however...
In other news death (political and otherwise) has dominated the national media this week. First, Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina booked a room through Orbitz - a deluxe suite in the fiery pit of hell for all eternity - if I understand his religious beliefs correctly. This, of course, follows closely on the heels of a similar disclosure by another right-wing Republican, Senator John Ensign of Nevada. Both were possible GOP candidates for the Presidency in 2012. Adios, boys!
Generally speaking I do not believe the sexual peccadilloes of public figures are particularly newsworthy - and they are certainly nothing peculiar to right-wing Republicans. But when one sets oneself up as an arbiter of public morality - and is perfectly willing to use the police power of the State to enforce that morality - one must expect some backlash when one is unable to keep one's penis in one's pants.
Then the news of the departure of Ms. Farah Fawcett - which dominated the TV all yesterday morning. Sadly for Ms. Fawcett, her allotted post-mortem air time as a 1970's era icon was cut-short by the death of 1980's King of Pop, Mr. Michael Jackson, whose media shelf-life is likely to last for several days and quite possibly weeks and months (depending on the coroner's findings). Even NPR has gotten into the act with blubbering fans calling-in to a special tribute this morning describing how Mr. Jackson had influenced their lives. A bit much it seems to me - I do have to confess that I found his visage the past few years to be somewhere south of bizarre and repulsive - bordering on scary.
Neither of the dearly departed was dear to me. Although Ms. Fawcett was certainly easy on the eyes in her early years and there is no doubt Mr. Jackson does leave a very sizable musical legacy. I am just notoriously lazy about and disinterested in this type of pop-culture stuff...as any of my friends will certify. To each his own however...
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Jasper and Me
I'm dog sitting this week - Joan's dachshund, Jasper, is my sidekick until Sunday. I picked him up on Monday afternoon and he was very restless - was up-and-down all night and generally ill at ease. Of course it is possible that the restlessness was a by-product of the dozen oatmeal/raisin cookies with icing that he scarfed down when Leah inadvertently left them in a Jasper-accessible location at Joan's house. It is also possible that a basset hound and a shih-tzu were co-conspirators on the cookie caper - but there is no doubt whatsoever that Jasper was the ringleader.
Yesterday afternoon it stopped raining so we went for a walk for over an hour on the dike trail. I set a good pace and he had a good workout. The little bastard is a different dog after he's had a good walk. Mellow. Relaxed. And last night the dog slept like a log.
It's quite nice this morning and supposed to get nicer as the day advances. I think Jasper and I will hike up to the glory hole...that should put both of us in a good frame of mind.
In other news, Leah has now found a second job. She starts next week driving a van for the Eagle Crest zip-line folks. And she wants to keep working for the catering outfit. Her big concern is that she will have occasional scheduling conflicts between the two and neither outfit seems organized well enough to give her a definitive schedule - something that I suppose is inherently difficult to do in the catering biz. Last evening it occurred to me that perhaps I could help-out - offer to take her van duties if and when she gets conflicted. Hard to say whether or not that would appeal to either Leah or her employer; but I will make the offer.
Well, just heard the dryer beep so I'll go fold and file the laundry and then head over to the elders for the morning koffee klatch. Then hit the trail with my buddy Jasper.
Hasta luego!
Yesterday afternoon it stopped raining so we went for a walk for over an hour on the dike trail. I set a good pace and he had a good workout. The little bastard is a different dog after he's had a good walk. Mellow. Relaxed. And last night the dog slept like a log.
It's quite nice this morning and supposed to get nicer as the day advances. I think Jasper and I will hike up to the glory hole...that should put both of us in a good frame of mind.
In other news, Leah has now found a second job. She starts next week driving a van for the Eagle Crest zip-line folks. And she wants to keep working for the catering outfit. Her big concern is that she will have occasional scheduling conflicts between the two and neither outfit seems organized well enough to give her a definitive schedule - something that I suppose is inherently difficult to do in the catering biz. Last evening it occurred to me that perhaps I could help-out - offer to take her van duties if and when she gets conflicted. Hard to say whether or not that would appeal to either Leah or her employer; but I will make the offer.
Well, just heard the dryer beep so I'll go fold and file the laundry and then head over to the elders for the morning koffee klatch. Then hit the trail with my buddy Jasper.
Hasta luego!
Monday, June 22, 2009
It's for the Children...
A quiet weekend. Went to Joan's on Friday evening for an excellent halibut supper although the halibut was, in my opinion, second fiddle to a truly outstanding wild rice dish. Good and good for you...
Saturday was yard day at auntie's. The lawn was wet so I had to cut, rake and mow again. Auntie came out to help - snipped dead flowers and kept me company. She seems to be enjoying the garden more this year than in years past. Today (June 22) is auntie's 83rd birthday which will be celebrated at my folk's place this evening. Baked chicken and apple pie have been requested by the guest of honor.
Aunt Emilie - probably the only person in Juneau who wears earmuffs in June
The intersection of auntie's garden with the neighbor's garden with the rain forest
Mom asked me to take some pics of her yard. She is EXTREMELY proud of her garden as witnessed by her agreement to allow me to include her in a picture. She is generally camera shy!
Last night we had father's day supper at the elders. I made the ol' boy a big batch of his favourite oatmeal cookies.
I have a busy day planned today. I'll head into town for a workout in a few minutes. Leah needs to borrow the Jeep to go to a job interview. After my workout I'm off to the Prospector for lunch with the Juneau Golf Club Fall Tournament Sponsors Committee to plan our assault on the business community. Funds raised will benefit the Juneau Junior Golf Club - a worthy cause right up there with ending world hunger and eradicating malaria. I am proposing that we use the picture below as part of our fund raising strategy.
After lunch I need to bake a couple of zucchini bread loaves for auntie...and then off to the elders' for the big bash.
TallyHo!
Saturday was yard day at auntie's. The lawn was wet so I had to cut, rake and mow again. Auntie came out to help - snipped dead flowers and kept me company. She seems to be enjoying the garden more this year than in years past. Today (June 22) is auntie's 83rd birthday which will be celebrated at my folk's place this evening. Baked chicken and apple pie have been requested by the guest of honor.
Aunt Emilie - probably the only person in Juneau who wears earmuffs in June
The intersection of auntie's garden with the neighbor's garden with the rain forest
Mom calls this her roundabout
Mom asked me to take some pics of her yard. She is EXTREMELY proud of her garden as witnessed by her agreement to allow me to include her in a picture. She is generally camera shy!
Last night we had father's day supper at the elders. I made the ol' boy a big batch of his favourite oatmeal cookies.
I have a busy day planned today. I'll head into town for a workout in a few minutes. Leah needs to borrow the Jeep to go to a job interview. After my workout I'm off to the Prospector for lunch with the Juneau Golf Club Fall Tournament Sponsors Committee to plan our assault on the business community. Funds raised will benefit the Juneau Junior Golf Club - a worthy cause right up there with ending world hunger and eradicating malaria. I am proposing that we use the picture below as part of our fund raising strategy.
After lunch I need to bake a couple of zucchini bread loaves for auntie...and then off to the elders' for the big bash.
TallyHo!
Friday, June 19, 2009
It's a Small World
A fun day yesterday playing tour guide for Manfred and Sally Warner, their son, daughter-in-law, six year old grandson, and two year old granddaughter. Manfred and Sally were my dining companions on the Zuiderdam several times. They are quite fun.
I hijacked my sister's SUV and Leah drove my jeep. We did the standard city tour, the glacier, and out to the shrine. By that time the youngsters were getting restless and Leah wheeled the two younger generations back to the ship while I continued the tour to Douglas and up Basin Road.
At some point I mentioned that I attended school in Bellingham and described collegiate sorties to Vancouver for adult entertainment with the pub in the Hotel Devonshire as our customary home base. This elicited a serious guffaw from Manfred and a titter from Sally. It seems that Manfred and Sally first met at the Hotel Devonshire! It's a small world, ain't it?
Our host duties were amply rewarded when an offer was extended to Leah to enjoy the hospitality of their cabin at Whistler for a skiing expedition. Leah appeared quite enthusiastic. The Warner's live in West Vancouver and I have been invited to visit.
In other news, the weather forecast for the weekend is not too great - indeed the forecast for next week is suspect as well. Hmmmmm. If summer is already over, I am going to be one unhappy camper.
I hijacked my sister's SUV and Leah drove my jeep. We did the standard city tour, the glacier, and out to the shrine. By that time the youngsters were getting restless and Leah wheeled the two younger generations back to the ship while I continued the tour to Douglas and up Basin Road.
At some point I mentioned that I attended school in Bellingham and described collegiate sorties to Vancouver for adult entertainment with the pub in the Hotel Devonshire as our customary home base. This elicited a serious guffaw from Manfred and a titter from Sally. It seems that Manfred and Sally first met at the Hotel Devonshire! It's a small world, ain't it?
Our host duties were amply rewarded when an offer was extended to Leah to enjoy the hospitality of their cabin at Whistler for a skiing expedition. Leah appeared quite enthusiastic. The Warner's live in West Vancouver and I have been invited to visit.
In other news, the weather forecast for the weekend is not too great - indeed the forecast for next week is suspect as well. Hmmmmm. If summer is already over, I am going to be one unhappy camper.
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